Brandon Meriweather to take extra caution before preseason debut in Tampa

Posted by Josh Alper on August 29, 2013, 8:23 AM EST

AP

Safety Brandon Meriweather is one of the few Washington starters expected to play in Thursday night’s preseason finale in Tampa and the only one expected to make his preseason debut.

Meriweather has sat out the first three games in an effort to ensure his troublesome right knee was well enough for game action and is hoping to take the final step in that process against the Buccaneers on Thursday. It’s not the first time that Meriweather has planned a delayed debut in Tampa. In Week Four last season, Meriweather was supposed to play after missing the first three weeks with knee issues, but he collided with wide receiver Aldrick Robinson in pregame warmups and wound up missing seven more weeks before returning to action and tearing his ACL in the first half of his first game back on the field.

“I’m not allowed to go out [early] in Tampa, man,” Meriweather said, via Zac Boyer of the Fredricksburg Free Lance-Star. “I’m not allowed to warm up. I won’t be out there this time.”

Assuming he makes it to the game unscathed, Meriweather’s return would be a welcome one for the Redskins defense. He’s not the best safety in the league, but he’s the best option currently on the roster and he’d add some stability at the back end of the defense next to rookie Bacarri Rambo.

As a Redskin fan I am hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. When healthy, Merriweather is not a bad player. However, he has been injured SO much it just seems inevitable that he goes down again. I hope I am wrong about that.

The defensive front seven of the Redskins is actually pretty good now and if they could shore up the secondary, they’d have a good unit. Amerson at CB and Rambo at S help, but I feel like they still need more quality depth at safety, particularly with Thomas going down.